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Theme: Paleo / Vegan / Gluten-Free Recipes
Vaishali posted bajra biscuits some weeks ago and I had to try them for two reasons. We are on the millet wagon for quite sometime now and so needless to say that I keep looking for new ways to include millet in our daily diet. Any interesting recipe that catches my attention gets cooked immediately in my kitchen. The second reason being my husband who enjoys spicier biscuits / cookies to go along with his coffee / tea.
I made them along the lines of a khara biscuit, on a spicier side to suit his taste buds. Thanks to Vaishali, we enjoyed these healthy and flavorful biscuits. These millet flour based biscuits are gluten free, vegan (free of eggs and dairy) and in a nutshell, guilt free. The flavors can be customized according to one's preferences. If looking for spicier cookies, my chickpea flour cookies and khara biscuits may interest you.
Ingredients:
1 cup millet flour / bajra flour
1 tsp. ginger - green chilli paste
2 pinches of asafoetida
Salt to taste (I used a little over 3/4 tsp. salt.)
1 tbsp. finely minced curry leaves
1 tbsp. cilantro
2 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup warm water
Directions:
* Grease or line a baking sheet. Also grease two plastic sheets on one side each. Or cut open a ziplock bag on sides so that you would end up with a large rectangle sheet and grease on one side and keep it aside.
* Preheat the oven to 300 deg F / 150 deg C.
* Combine all the ingredients except oil and water in a mixing bowl. In case you can not paste the ginger and chillies, just run them in a food processor along with the flour. Add oil and rub into the mixture. Next add water in small increments and mix until a dough is formed. Add a tsp. or two extra water if needed.
* Divide the mixture into two portions. Place one of the dough balls between two greased plastic sheets. (Or on one side of the greased ziploc sheet and fold the other end over it). Roll the dough into 1/8 inch thick circle.
* Cut the dough into desired shapes using cookie cutters and prick them all over with a fork.
* Place the cut biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and bake them until golden brown and crisp. (Vaishali recommended about 15 minutes of baking. My biscuits were 1/4 inch thick ones and so I had to bake for about 25 minutes flipping them in between since they were not browning. I left them in the oven few extra minutes after the oven was turned off. I went with checking the crispiness rather than the color for these biscuits to see if they were done.
* Cool and save them in an airtight container. Serve them with coffee or tea.
Notes:
* The biscuits pictured here are 1/4 inch thick ones. 1/8 inch thickness gives crispy biscuits while 1/4 inch thick ones gives flaky and crumbly kind ones. We liked both but I would recommend 1/8 inch thick ones if not finishing them immediately. 1/4 inch thick ones kind of lost some of the crispiness the next day.
* I used a 1.5 inch size diamond shaped cookie cutter and got around 30 biscuits of 1/4 inch thickness. One can make them into thin, big circles.
Comments
I came across this moist and yummy cake when I was looking for
something that included both chocolate and banana. The person who posted
this baked it in a 8x8 pan but I halved the recipe and baked in a 6 inch
loaf pan since I was baking this for one, my daughter. The loaf uses a
good dose of fruit in the form of banana and apple sauce. The latter
replaces the fat (butter/oil) and hence cuts down some of
the calories from the recipe. I further cut down the calories by omitting the egg from the recipe. It was not a light and airy cake but still was a super moist one
and was surely a winner. Everyone at my home loved the texture and
taste of this treat. I am sure that this guiltless treat is going to be
featured in my kitchen more and more in the future. Unfortunately,
the tiny loaf was gone before I could take the pictures of the sliced cake
and all I could manage were these pictures. I am going to update them
later.
Source: Here
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 bananas
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Method:
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 6 inch loaf pan.
* Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
* Blend bananas and brown sugar together. Add apple sauce and vanilla and mix together.
* Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well to incorporate. Fold in the chocolate chips, saving some.
*
Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the saved chocolate chips
over the surface. (I ended up with a little left over batter that
yielded me an extra muffin.)
* Bake until a tooth pick inserted at the center comes out clean, about 35 - 40 minutes.
This goes to the following events.
1. Blogging marathon #73
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month with the theme 'Chocolate'.
Comments
If one has enough patience, these cookies can be tagged as the ones with no sugar, no butter, no all purpose flour or gluten free cookies. These vegan cookies are redolent with Indian flavors and are healthy enough to serve even diabetics. I wanted to bake something interesting to go with our evening tea that tasted like a cross between a crispy cookie and a savory Indian snack and the result was these cookies which my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. These are probably the best savory version cookies I have baked so far ever since my camaraderie with the oven though I cannot say the same thing about the images. Again these pictures were taken when the sun was fading away in the evening, a setting I am not well versed with. These cookies have a very desirable crispy, crunchy texture if perfectly timed and greatly satisfies the Indian palates.
Ingredients: (Yield 15 cookies)
1 cup chickpea flour / garbanzo flour / besan
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp. crushed kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
2 - 3 pinches of asafoetida powder
2 tbsp. oil + extra for brushing (I used canola oil.)
2 to 3 tbsp. warm water (I used about 2 tbsp.)
2 tbsp. toasted white sesame seeds
Method:
* Sieve chickpea flour and baking powder together.
* Add flour - baking powder mixture, chili powder, salt, turmeric, kasuri methi, asafoetida to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine them. Next add the oil and again pulse a couple of times. Then add water gradually and run the food processor until the mixture comes together into a ball. Transfer the mixture to working surface and knead into a smooth dough.
Or combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and prepare the dough by hand. (Grease your hands if the dough appears sticky.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.
* Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper (since the chickpea flour is going to be sticky to work with while rolling.) Roll the dough with a rolling pin into about 2 to 3 mm thickness. Remove the top parchment paper and sprinkle sesame seeds and again cover with top parchment paper. Gently roll once so that sesame seeds stick to the dough.
* Cut the dough into desired cookie shapes and place them on the prepare baking sheet.
* Bake for about 14 - 17 minutes or until it starts to turn golden brown around the edges. (They firm up further while cooling.)
* Cool them and store it in an airtight container.
